Wednesday, May 30, 2018

The
longer we know someone it is easier to take them for granted. We
are not always grateful for the family that God has put into our
life. We focus more on the bad memories than the good ones. We could all
complain about something in everyone around us. There is certainly
plenty in myself that others could and do complain about. We are all a
mess!

We have to choose to be grateful for our family, our friends,
our neighbors, etc. How do we show that we value those who God has
placed in to our life? Let's be more thankful and not be guilty of just
complaining, making fun,
nagging or criticizing them.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Philippians 1:3

This is a picture of my Aunt & Uncle with their kids and grandkids in Tennessee at Point Park Lookout Mountain, Thanksgiving 2010 ~ this is a family tradition and many wonderful memories I have with all of them!

Saturday, May 12, 2018

There is nothing in this world that I enjoy more than taking a
picture of something or someone. The pictures that I take now or have
taken many years ago encourage me in my daily life. They were all taken
at different phases of my life that I am so thankful for and all good
memories. I love looking back at the good times and I look forward to
the good times ahead. No matter what time in my life that I look back on
my pictures I remember more the joy of that time than the difficult
circumstances because of those pictures.

We don't take
pictures of the ugly or the mess of life but instead of the moments we
want to cherish forever. The pictures we take are wonderful reminders of
the joyful times. When I look at pictures of my kids when I was a
single parent and all their smiles and our celebrations together, it
makes my heart smile. We struggled then financially and emotionally but
we still had fun too! The things we did together then are priceless
memories that I love to reflect on again and again.

My
pictures are a constant reminder of the joy then and the joy now! I
thank God for my dad who recorded my entire childhood to remind me of
the good family times we all had together. I am also thankful to be able
to take pictures of my own kids and grandkids to cherish all our
memories together. Most of all I am thankful to God that as I grow older I have become more forgetful of the less than joyful moments of life!

Psalm 30:5bWeeping may endure for a night,But joy comes in the morning.

Thursday, May 3, 2018

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; Genesis 2:18a

In life, I believe we all need each other. God created all of us to dwell with him and with each other. We think sometimes that we can do it on our own but I can tell you at my age I have learned that is impossible. I need the people in my life such as my husband, my kids, my grand~kids, my brothers and sisters, my nieces and nephews, my aunt & uncle, my cousins and that is just the family side of things. I also need my friends, my church family, my neighbors, my co-workers and that list is endless too.

Thank you Lord for bringing people into my life that I need and also need me. It makes life sweeter as we go hand in hand with one another through the good and the difficult of our journeys together!

This picture was taken after climbing Sleepy Bear Dunes while camping in Michigan around 1998 with my mom and my family from Spain.